The XP is way better there. Sure, there is voting to launch new expansions instead of having a set date for each one, but what is the real problem? Were Stormhold's expansions released without the devs doing enough adjusting (I'm assuming), whereas with Fallen Gate they are going to right the wrongs as each expansion debuts there? If so, shouldn't Stormhold get all the adjustments as they happen, too? Couldn't people just wait it out on Stormhold and at least have more content to wade through, instead of staying on FG and being trapped at low level (without holiday events and expansion content) for so long? Sorry, all my Stormhold characters got flung there off of Deathtoll when it closed, so I never really did much with them.
DoF and KoS is gonna be the defining factor for FG. If its gonna be just as bad as Stormhold was, this server might aswell shut down too. They said they redid items, but already in RE you start seeing signs of items not being changed, especially quest rewards still run the old wacky stats. DoF heroics on SH still doesnt even have drops on Stormhold. We shall see if they want and can deliver this time around.
FG u have heritage rewards ... big thing but time will tell, FG is young, SH a bit less ... so maybe people will leave just like they left SH
Stormhold was basically treated as beta for this server, as far as I can tell. Why it failed and lost population with almost every expansion? - it was incredibly poorly done in terms of polish and tst (lots and lots of broken content, felt like an alpha of an indie game) - poor itemization for the first 3 expansions led to no gear progression and generally no incentive to gear yourself up before trying harder content (and even after that the itemiazation wasn't exactly great) - poor balancing (KoS at launch was a joke, effectively killed Deathtoll before the fixes started coming in and halved the population on Stormhold) - numerous (needless) changes in the last couple of expansions... Sentinel's Fate was never going to be as interesting as RoK or TSO, but nerfing autoattack basically killed the desire to play of 90% of people who played melee classes - Fallen Gate was just a nail in the coffin as no sane person will roll a new toon on Stormhold As far as I know, 3 guilds remain on Stormhold while also playing on Fallen Gate. And all 3 will either have to migrate fully or watch SH die out completely (there were 5 people online last night on SH when I checked... 5. FIVE.). ... Main thing though... If you start losing players because of an issue, the bleed begins and you never get the majority of those players bac. So for Fallen Gate, please, up the XP rate for adventuring and crafting before its too late. Yeah the XP potions might be selling like mad now, but longterm its much better to have a healthy population which will stay and be loyal and spend moderately - then leech your players for a month and then watch the server dwindle and die out in a few months, or a few expansion, at best.
I think that FG will have a much shorter life span that SH because of the excruciatingly lower rate of xp and because the majority of the player base is veterans from the live servers who are there to get the free mount, familiar potion, and HQ rewards. Most veterans will leave after they get the rewards and many players will burn out from the overly slow rate of xp and will get tired of grinding and/or being nickel and dimed to death from buying potions to speed up advancement. Also as stated above, much of the gear in higher zones still hasn't been adjusted and that was a big turn off to players on SH. I know this from my own experience on SH. There were people who came back to the game who hadn't played in years and then left and said they were never coming back because of how poorly SH was implemented.
FG for me seems like it's going to be "seasonal". Right now folks are leveling and getting the HQs done. Once they are done with those they will go back to their home servers. Wait for next expansion so can level and get the next set of HQ rewards. Once the HQ rewards are earned, unless you were planning on starting over in a new home server, there is no actual reason to stay. Obviously, just my view and not speaking for anyone other than myself. As long as it's fun for folks, whether FG/SH/Live etc. It's all that matters.
People are massively overstating problems with gear. As far as I can tell, every item that drops from a contested raid encounter has been fixed. These were some of the most glaring problems because they had never been touched in any pass. Raid content at the launch of the original TLE dropped fabled level 50 bows with a damage rating of 10 and +5 to all stats. They have also put thought in to many of these pieces by adding stats like cast speed to make life easier for chain and plate healers. From what I've been able to see, the developers have genuinely listened to and implemented many of the fixes players asked for. Oh, and another huge bonus, all HQ rewards have been enhanced and most are worth doing now - when previously many were just awful. I can accept some funny gear pieces on the basis that current regearing normalises stats across all gear of equal levels and reduces gear diversity. I've seen lower level pieces with low raw stats but +7.5 DPSm which is pretty decent, and that gives people who do the research and spend the time an advantage over lazier players. I would expect this to get better, not worse in future expansions as Shattered Lands is the biggest content pack until EoF and the developers are bound to miss the odd quest reward. From some of the parses I've seen they've also redone raid content, which is absolutely fantastic. If they proceed as they have so far with DoF, the only additional thing I'd ask them to do is fix the doors in PPR and Poet's Palace and also nerf the PPR minotaurs.
I agree ... many want one or 2 HQ items, also it's because nothing to do on the other serveurs, but many people on FG are only there for rewards (I am part of them) and doing something a bit different (part of them too) ... but I'll stay on thurgadin and FG will stay something on the side. It won't keep me in the game. It's way too slow
I'm going to say SH is failing right now because FG is the newest and greatest TLE....and people love that new feel and love the leveling, discos, 1st time feeling. I also think with summer Ethereals dropping this week that Live servers will pick back up for those who have been over on FG. The familiar upgrade bauble (lv 30) is very appealing and so are the HQ's on FG. Personally...I see FG as a spare time playing server for people like me who are currently bored on Live and can't face grinding another alt for their epic or doing another PG without a double or triple coin event. For those of you on SH...I feel your pain....we asked the same questions when many left Live servers to play on SH in its infancy.
I second the broker thing. It's real neat to be able to level on SH from 1 to 90, loot everything sell every quest item, and still need to do that a good 10 times to be able to afford ONE shiney on the broker. Something happened a few expansions ago that flooded us with plat, no idea what it was.
Because Fallen Gate launched. And as everyone who played at EQ II's launch knows: the greatest years this game has ever seen were 2004-2009. As such, people will continue to relive that era over and over.
Too much has passed on SH. They botched it at launch. I am okay with rolling with FG through TSO / SF / Maybe SS and Velious. Live is to OP, can just duo all the raids,. and SH is too far gone...it's kind of in the void. Most people have a goal on TLE servers. The only way to change it would be to make a server like EQ1's Agnarr. Just perma lock at RoK. Let people and guilds constantly start fresh progression as they can always exp lock. Then you would get hit with returning players/guilds from time to time and keep the server going.
When Fallen Gate was announced it was obvious that it was the kiss of death for Stormhold. Once Fallen Gate arrived the number of people online on SH dropped to pretty much nothing. I know a few people who figured they'd play on FG for awhile and still stick around on SH also, but problem is, there's pretty much nothing left on SH. I played eq2 for about 10 years, left for awhile until SH/TLE arrived, played on SH for 2 years, and now I guess I'm pretty much done. There's nothing I care about anymore on Live, SH is dead, and not starting over on FG. Had some good times though.
They lost me because of issues in DoF and KoS on SH. I stayed for EoF but had all but left during DoF. Now I am back and hoping that the three months is enough time with the xp, set at what it is currently set at, for me to enjoy each expansion.
Stormhold has been one problem after another since it opened. Whether it was broken loot, poor mob balancing, borked mechanics, etc. Basically it was one continuous beta test that started over with each new expac to open, and Daybreak's promises to fix things in the next expansion began to ring hollow. Some things did get fixed though, eventually, and some things were tweaked some more before Fallen Gate opened. Fallen Gate opening, plus the mass attrition over the course of a year's worth of broken content, plus the fact that the server has now gone beyond the point many wanted to play through i.e. RoK/TSO, it's not surprising that the server has issues.
i like the xp where its at for questing and mobs. I will need to travel to all the beginning locations to level. On the other hand the xp for crafting blows snot. I will need to use the potions or i wont be able to keep up with my toons adventure exp. If this server is anything like the beginning i will need gear or most of the overland mobs are going to own me.
I would be one of the 10 people still playing Stormhold if they hadn't (A) broken my wind komodo, and (B) broken all the level 20 city timeline quests cloaks. The auto-attack nerf isn't exactly thrilling me, either.
Actually, in this case the removal of stats was fully intended. Those cloaks were never supposed to have stats on them, I pointed it out to Fyreflyte on Beta and he said it was completely intended that they were removed, because they were created to be appearance-only at 20. Just because something is different, doesn't mean it's broken.
